Flamingo Toes – M&J Challenger 2!

Hi everyone! I am so excited to be a part of the M & J Trimming Challenge this year! (Excited and nervous! Did you see the fabulous projects last year??)
On my blog, Flamingo Toes, I love to create things for my home, jewelry and fun sewing projects. The amazing box that we were given has so many fabulous items – and I knew I wanted to make something for the home and something to wear!

First up is the Circles and Waves Linen Set I created for the dining room.
Placemats, Napkins, Napkin Rings, a Table Runner and a Pretty Vase to go with it!

Let’s start with the Table Set first.
I love the raw edges of these – they look so fun and rough – I think it makes a great contrast with the quilting!

1. Cut out all your pieces. You’ll need 8 rectangles 14″ x 20″ for the placemats, 4 – 19″ squares for the napkins and assorted circles for the embellishing the napkins and placemats. I used circles from 4″ – 6″ for the placemats, 1 1/2″ – 3″ for the napkins and larger 6″ – 12″ circles for the runner out of the white. Cut out several circles from your coordinating print as well.
2. Following the instructions on the packages, dye the napkins along with several of the circles each color. I dyed 2 napkins in each color. Plus several extra circles. It’s better to have too many than not enough. :)
3. Wash, dry, and iron all pieces.

4. Cut pieces of batting 13″ x 19″ and layer each piece between two placemat pieces. Pin together well.

5. Mark along the top and bottom every two inches with a disappearing marker.
Start at the far right mark and with your first color of contrasting thread, sew a wavy line down the short side of the placemat that ends at the first mark on the right at the bottom of the placemat.
6. Repeat across the placemat working your way to the left, sewing wavy lines down. Try and make the waves different with each line.

7. Change out your thread and sew contrasting wavy lines down the placemat, starting and ending at the same marks, but making your waves move opposite the stitching you did before.

8. Stitch around all 4 sides of the placemat, starting with your darker thread, 3/8″ from the edge. Sew another line with the lighter thread 1/4″ inside this.

9. Lay out an assortment of circles in prints and solids on the placemat. Sew them down 1/4″ from the edge.
10. Now your placemats are all done!

I put the circles in different places so each placemat would look just a little different.

11. For the napkins, sew around all 4 sides with a wavy stitch. Use thread that contrasts with the napkin color.
For the blue napkins I used yellow & white and for the yellow napkins I used blue & white.

12. Sew around all four sides again, with your contrasting thread. Make your waves in this stitching opposite what you sewed before.

13. Choose three small circles that contrast with the napkin color and sew them on one corner of the napkin.
That finishes off the napkins!

14. For the Napkin Rings, tear 1′ – 1/2″ strips of white fabric. This will make straight strips with raw edges.
Wrap them around the napkins rings.
15. Continue wrapping until your ring is covered. Glue the end down.

16. Make a Ribbon Rosette out of pretty coordinating grosgrain ribbon.

17. Add rhinestones to the center of the rosette for a little bling.
(I love the tools they provided with the rhinestone kit! It made picking up and gluing the rhinestones super easy!)

18. Glue a small dyed fabric circle behind the rosette.

19. Glue the rosette onto the napkin ring and you’re done.
They look so sweet with the matching napkins slipped in!

20. For the Table Runner, lay out your larger circles in the pattern you’d like. My runner measures 30″ x 10″ approx.
21. Cut out a white piece of fabric the outside shape of the runner and a piece of batting about 1/2″ smaller than the total shape.
Pin them together like you did the placemats.

22. Start sewing your layers together with the bottom circles first. For the solid, dyed fabrics I did three rows of circles around the edges, 1/4″ apart.
For the prints, I sewed around the outside 1/4″ from the edge then sewed down a few of the wavy lines.

23. Once the bottom circles are sewn on, do the next layers, until all the circles are sewn down.

Then the Runner is finished!

I love the pretty colors of the dye paired with the white fabric and the bright thread. It makes for such a fun place setting!

2. Once your spray paint is dry, I recommend spraying it with a matte sealant.
(This will help the paint stay on.)

3. Measure down from the top rim of the vase to where you’d like the first row of cording to start.
Make small pencil marks every few inches around the vase.
Glue on the first color of cording in two rows along your markings, making sure to pull the cording snug against the vase.
4. Repeat with the second color of cording, wrapping it under the first two rows.

5. Decide how you would like your rhinestones to look. I decided to follow the wavy pattern in my set.
M & J Trimming has some great tools for applying rhinestones!
Start by adding glue to the small syringe. Dot the glue on the vase where you’d like your first few rhinestones to go.
The syringe adds a tiny spot of glue, just where you need it.
6. Use the wooden tool to dip into the beeswax just a bit. Pick up a rhinestone with the tool and place it on the spot of glue.
The wax is just tacky enough to pick up the rhinestone but not so tacky that it won’t stick easily to the glue.

7. Once all your rhinestones are placed, the vase is finished! Let the glue dry for about 12 hours before moving the vase or adding flowers.

The vase makes such a pretty addition to the table set!

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The last few 2 things I needed to use in the Challenge Box where the vibrant pink mesh ribbon and the most gorgeous silk ombre ribbon I’d ever seen. This ribbon feels so smooth and the colors are just beautiful!
Since I make a lot of necklaces on my blog, I knew that was what I had to do. I really wanted to showcase the colors in the ribbons and I love how it turned out!

1. Begin by cutting your cording into two pieces. One 35″ and one 37″.
Fold each cording piece in half and beginning at the two cut ends, glue the halves together.
2. Repeat for the other cording piece.
3. Once the cording is glued together, start wrapping the silk ribbon around the cording. Make sure as you wrap that the colored, ombre portion of the ribbon shows. You don’t want to cover up the gorgeousness. ;)
Add a dot of glue at the beginning and then every few inches to help hold the cord in place. Not too much because you don’t want to have the glue show through.

4. Wrap the other cord as well. Shape them just a bit so that they both form a “U” shape, with the smaller cord inside the larger one.

5. Hand sew the two left wrapped ends together with a few stitches. Without cutting your thread, sew the top link in your silver chain to the two cordings. Knot and cut your thread.

6. Lay out your cording so that the chain is under the wrapped cording pieces. Loop the chain around the left, longer cording piece and bring it around through the two cording pieces.
Bring the chain around the right, shorter cord piece and then back through between them. Pull the chain snug without being too tight.

7. Continue wrapping the chain around the cording pieces, keeping the “U” shape intact as much as you can. Finish off the other end by hand stitching the chain and the two ends together.

8. Trim off any excess chain.
9. With your cut fabric pieces, on one short side turn the fabric to the wrong side in a small fold and hem the side down.
Fold the rectangles right sides together so that you have a long rectangular tube. Sew the ends together starting with the hemmed end and tapering to a point at the other end.
10. Trim the curved end. Turn right sides out and press.

11. Around each cording end, wrap a few inches of the mesh ribbon. This will help hold the cording pieces together and add a really fun texture to the top of the cording.
12. Slide the hemmed end of the fabric tie over the cording end. Make sure you leave some of the mesh ribbon showing.
13. Pull the tie so the seam is away from the cording. On the back side, hand sew the mesh ribbon down and sew the tie down along the edge.

14. Pull the tie snug and fold the extra fabric back over the cording. Stitch the edge and a little bit of the fold down.

15. Now the basic part of the necklace is finished. Time for some embellishing!

16. Make a ribbon rosette out of the silk ombre ribbon and a 2 other flowers out of coordinating fabric. I used a solid dark pink and a light pink netting.
Add the rosette and the solid flower to the right side of the necklace, where the tie ends.
You can add a vintage brooch or a fun button between them.

17. To add a little more texture, add a larger netting flower behind the others, to the back of the cording.

And that finishes off the necklace!

I love the way the ribbon and the chain look woven together. I think it makes the ribbon even more eye catching!

I hope you liked the projects – I would love for you to come visit my blog sometime and check things out!

Thank you so much M & J Trimming for including me in the challenge this year! It was so much fun and an honor to participate!